Wellness Wednesday: Art in Nature

Wellness Wednesday: Art in Nature

Presented by Ann Taylor Schmidt

Registration is required. Registration opens 7 days before the event.

Location: Scotia Barrens

Transportation:

A limited number of van seats are available for this event. You must  confirm your registration to this event BEFORE registering for  transportation. Reserve A Seat

Program Description:

Join us for Wellness Wednesday: Art in Nature with  Ann Taylor-Schmidt! We will have sitting cushions available for this  event, but you are welcome to bring a chair if that is more comfortable  for experience.

The focus of this program is Get Out of Your Head and Into a Tree: Using the tree identification process of drawing and recording patterns as a mindfulness technique. Spend  time with one tree. Learn its secrets. Touch its bark. Report on its  leafing and branching patterns. Forget your worries and learn the tree's  scars and history. Breath in its oxygen and scent. Draw the leaves,  branches and trunk. Do a crayon rubbing of the bark or leaf texture.  Explore it and we will learn the questions that need to be answered to  help identify the species.

Ann will introduce some drawing techniques, then we will find a tree  to focus on. After the one-on-tree session, we will use helpful books,  apps and one another to learn more about your tree. You may download one of these apps beforehand: iNaturalist for iOS and android, or Plantnet for android, yet we hope to spend less time on our phone and more time  tuned into nature. Observing and asking the right questions is key to  this activity and being fully present is our reward.

About Our Instructor:

Ann graduated cum laude with a B.S. in art ed, first teaching  elementary art. Then, she worked in the graphic-arts printing industry,  continuing to take grad courses, painting and showing. She worked for  Penn State marketing communications and public relations, retiring from  the University’s StratCom Office of Social Media. Taylor-Schmidt has  taught an annual Penn State nature journal drawing workshop for two  decades. She has instructed both adult and teen students on her own, and  through the Art Alliance. Ann enjoys photography, bonsai and selling  her polymer clay art jewelry creations and teaching through her business  Ann Taylor-Schmidt Artworks.

Wellness Wednesdays are part of Centred Outdoors' efforts to  offer equitable opportunities for outdoor recreation at nearby natural   spaces. The series highlights paths to wellness, engages the community,   and includes local partners.